The Lodger and Us

The Lodger loves designing and gifting cards.  "Mum, I made a card for Z today!" "Fantastic. What did she say?" "She said you made my day and in my head I thought, that's a phrase because you can't make a day!" The Lodger is 8 During the summer,  The Lodger turned 8. I know, 8, can you believe it.  We put a call out for birthday cards and he had a fantastic time gathering them in the birthday treasure hunt.  One by one they were opened and he quizzed us on who everyone was.  "Mum, who's this person?" "O remember, the last PWSAI family weekend and at our table there was...."  "The last family weekend" said The Lodger The Lodgers face fell. I continued to explain "Yes, the last family weekend..." "Mum, why would you tell me this on my birthday! I can't believe it, the last family weekend" As I continued to explain and he was getting further and further upset, Rory was trying to explain to me. ...

At this stage we probably all feel that we've gotten a pretty decent grasp of the language we speak every day. It's taken time to develop from when we were toddlers, into the school years, teenage years and into adulthood where, if we are to be honest we're still learning. Admitting it may be another story. Like some people still don't know what a tracker mortgage is?? Anyway this is a throwback to those wonderful moments where grammar really doesn't matter and the basic concepts of language will do just fine. I'm sure all children experience the same development possibly at a faster rate but I can only speak for one and we're enjoying tipping through the minefield of the simple English language. The Lodger is just gone four and is learning to speak. He's finally decided it's time. We are glad he's finally made the decision. The sounds started a long time ago, followed more recently by the one syllable words and now we're deep in...